Trump Media stock investors are betting their retirement on DJT
Trump-supporting retirees went all-in on Trump Media, even as the stock proved volatile.
One user, who only goes by the name @DTLjohnny, said on Trump Media-owned Truth Social that he invested 98% of his total retirement money in stocks. As of September, he estimates he lost 60% of his investment. Still, he seemed confident in the company’s ability to adjust its sails.
“But I know the day will come when the Deep State scammers will become so desperate that they will go all in with their fake stocks. Everyone can see what they are doing. And I believe this is part of a comprehensive exposure plan,” user wrote in September. “And there is no way Trump will let them bankrupt his company! Have faith. He and [Trump Media CEO Devin Nunes] have a plan. But it’s a plan they have to keep secret…for now.”
He could have recouped a large part of his losses. The stock rose more than 300% from its late September low to its late October high but has since fallen about 40%.
Another investor expressed concerns about the stock. John Viaud, a retiree in South Carolina, said his “entire pension is in jeopardy” after losing $600,000 investing in Trump Media.
“If we don’t see a green day tomorrow, I may have to bail,” he said in a statement. Social media posts Truth in September.
In a separate post, Truth Social chastised Washington Post‘S previous insurance of investors who lost money on Trump Media stock, saying the company reached “predetermined conclusions” and omitted Trump Media’s full critique of the story.
Viaud, response to Truth Social’s criticism of Parcel story, said he continued to invest in Trump Media and that he was able to almost recover his losses “thanks to the success of the companies [sic] stock performance.”
Luck Truth Social users’ investment portfolios cannot be independently verified. User is not responding LuckTrump’s interview request and Trump Media did not respond Luckrequest for comment by.
The continued support of Trump’s media and technology companies has become a way for Trump’s followers show their enthusiastic support for the president-elect. But retirees who lived or died on Trump Media before this election will be in for a tough wake-up call if they keep their money in stocks after Trump’s November 5 victory. In spite of increased by 6% For stocks the day after the election, they fell 13%, erasing previous gains.
This stock follows the pattern of a larger “Trump” stock boom immediately after the election — which has helped the S&P 500 increased by 3.5% in the second week of November, the best post-election session ever—but already since mellow.
Trump Media is always fluctuating. It has lost more than 53% of its value since March 26, which marked its first day of trading as a public company after its launch. special purpose acquisition company mergers. To further spook investors, executives such as CFO Phillip Juhan and corporate chief Eric Swider sold a combine 536,000 shares of the company since the election. Trump himself has said he won’t sell his stocks, remains its largest shareholder with 54% ownership, worth about 3.2 billion USD.
The paradox of Trump’s victory
Trump Media’s bumpy road since the election shows that Trump’s victory did not resolve stock volatility or Truth Social’s financial situation.
According to recent profileTrump Media is hemorrhaging money, largely because Truth Social’s conservative user base remains small and because its main source of revenue is advertising dollarsTotal revenue was just $2.6 million in the first nine months of the year and down 23% from a year ago. The company lost $363 million in the same period. Trump Media is currently considering creating a cryptocurrency payments platform called TruthFiwill act as another source of revenue.
Trump’s Truth Social was originally founded in early 2022 as a way for Trump to get his ideas out after he banned on Twitter and Facebook following the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol. But Elon Musk’s X—well Have 70.4 monthly active users compared to Truth Social’s 698,000 as of September, according to Similarweb—has become a heater for spreading conservative ideology since Musk bought the app in October 2022. Trump give back to the platform in August 2023. With an alliance between the two locations is said to be in the worksTruth Social’s value proposition as an amplification tool for Trump and his followers has weakened.
“Trump Media’s whole argument is: We’re going to allow free speech in a way that hasn’t existed in many years,” said Mike Stegemoller, a finance professor at Baylor University. female Washington Post.
Trump’s return to the presidency—and an international platform carefully watched by leaders, followers, and adversaries around the globe—further reduces the appeal of an app specifically built specifically to give him a voice.
“That doesn’t bode well for a company that already makes very little revenue,” Stegemoller said.
